Air strikes on Islamic State bases in Syria inadmissible without Damascus consent - Putin

MOSCOW, September 23. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has held a telephone conversation with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to discuss the fight against the Islamic State extremist group, the Kremlin press service reported on Tuesday.

“Mr. Putin and Mr. Ban exchanged views on pooling the international community’s efforts in the fight against the Islamic State group,” the press service said.

“The Russian side stressed that air strikes on the Islamic State terrorist bases in the Syrian territory should not be launched without consent of the Syrian government,” the Kremlin said.

On Sunday, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry had a telephone conversation to discuss ways of rebuffing the terrorist group Islamic State, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, adding that the conversation had been initiated by the U.S. side.

“The sides exchanged views on methods of counteracting the terrorist group Islamic State. Lavrov stressed the importance of coordinated, without double standards, actions of the world community to rebuff this threat and called to refrain from distorting facts in the Syrian context,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

“It was specifically noted that it was necessary to strictly observe the United Nations Charter and norms of the international law, to respect Syria’s sovereignty in realizing plans of the U.S.- formed coalition, including a force operation,” the ministry said.